Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-09-12

dispute as 10 who might claim the opei
grave, but again Dams good sense came 4
the rescue.
\ ave all took turns at the diggin', so
6oYt see as one has better rights than an
other. Reckon we'd best draw lots for fus
chico"
1t was done Within an hour every mar
had his claim staked and was hard a
work 1t is safe to say that not one o
them wasted thought upon poor jim
Hardtack as the day went on; certainly
no one gave thought to his absent part
ner The sun had gone down and tn,
miners, one by one, we're reluntantly leav
ing their work, when they were startled
back to remembrance by Fishys appear
aHce among them.
He had heard the news, and there was Z
look on his face which no one had evel
seen there before.
81 want to know which of you feller
has staked off ,Jim's grave Reckon / hex
suthin to say bout that. He guy me the
job of plantin' him if | wor aliye, so il
any hyin' body has claim thar it's me
an Pm goin' to see that he's put in the
spot he ch'ieed. If ye don't choose to give
it up, Sandy Gunnel, ye kin take yer
chance In squar stand up, We on that side
an me on this. in shoot to kill"
| Sandy Gunnel, to whom the claim had
fallen, was disposed to be bully and a
braggart but there was dangerous look
in Fishy's pale eyes; besides, with the ex-
ception of the nugget, the claim had
scarcely held its own with the other holes
| which had been sunk around it; so
Sandy very wisely concluded to avoid a
| quarrel.
Yer welcome to the hole" said he,
IAN I'll help We to tote him back to it."
But the other men raised demur. 1t
would bring bad luck to "plant corp"
right in the midst of the diggings. Fishy
answered their objections with a soornfnl
ring in his voice
Yer purity lot, srter OWN the find of
the old diggin's to him, as ye've alters
owned up. Looks to me as if ye owed this
find to him too, an now ye begrudge him
the little ak foot by two of ground that he
| axed fur! But Pm goin' to see that he
gifts il, if hev to fight every man of ye
an if l git the wust of it don't doubt but
Jim'u come back, as he said he would, to
ha'nt ye all He wor man of his word"
The vein of superstition which runs
| through the average miner was thrilled by
the recollection of Jim's threat, but it was
more admiration for the unexpected spirit
which Fishy was showing that influenced
| them to let him have his way. They all
turned to and helped unearth the rough
| coffin, and carried it back to the side of
the widened grave, where Fishy awaited
them.
That'll do boys, an thank ye all. Put
him in? No. He axed to be buried at
sunrise, an at sunrise it shell be- I'll do
the watchin', though, as ye was up las
night, but I'll take it kind if yen be on
hand in the mornin'"
Fishy had gathered branches and started
fire, the Pickering CLEANS from which lit
up the whitish stones of the Devils grave
yard, until it looked graveyard in fact,
and Sandy Gunnel voiced the thought of
all as they turned away by muttering:
Who'd thought, boys, Fishy had SIGH
grit? Pm glad it amt me stayin' alone
with a corpse in that lonesome place"
He gave backward glance over his
| shoulder as he spoke, and wild yell
escaped from his lips. There, sitting up
right in his coffin, with CHASTITY face and
staring eyes, was the dead man. They all
saw that sight; then, giving way to a
panic of terror, they fed pell-mell, risk
| ing broken necks, down the precipitous
trail all but Sandy Gunnel, whose limbs
doubled under him, and who fell upon his
knees as the dread figure slowly raised a
reckoning hand, gasping in abject terror
Jim, oh, Jim! don't ha'nt us. We wor
| goin' to make it right. Go back, go dead
agin, and Well bury We thar, sure Oh,
Lord p'
A terrible grimace distorted the CHASTITY
face, the pale lips parted, but Sandy's senses
deserted him, and only Fishy heard the
hoarse tones which issued therefrom
"Ye will, will yer2 Don't you be fool,
too, pard. Help me out of this an give
me drink
When the miners. in fear and trembling,
made their way back TO the Devils grave
yard next morning, they found only Sandy,
shivering over the embers of the spent fire,
and he solemnly declared that the devil
had come there in the shape of Jim Hard
tack and spirited away Fishy before his
very eyes. There was the empty coffin to
prove it if they were inclined TO doubt his
| words
The coffin was empty and Fishy was
gone, and, no other explanation of the
mystery occurring, the boys came almost
to believe Sandy's story.
The new diggings got an evil name; one
by one the men left there and went back
to the old ground until the place was de-
| serted, but it was not until weeks after
ward, when two bronzed men came tramp
ing down the mountain, that the truth
| was made known that it was Jim in the
flesh who had come back that night, who
had suffered the tortures of death dozen
times over in being conscious of all that
took place around him while he lay in
that death-like trance, unable to lift a
finger or speak word. Lucky for him
that the rough box coffin was far from air
tight, lucky again that he had been
dropped into the cleft and the big stones
rolled down, cracking and loosening the
lid, while they held back the earth piled
upon them; but most lucky of all that
Fishy had been faithful to his trust, or
Jim Hardtack would never have chuckled
to himself, remembering the fright he had
| given them, az he told his story.
The disappearance of the two was but a
common phase of life in the mountains.
"Ye see, Fishy struck it rich on his
tramp; we've worked out bunch of
pockets and made our pile, an now were
| goin' back to the States, an you fellers kin
hev all thar is in the Devils graveyard"
Tint spot, however, did not recover
from its i'll repute; to this day it is be-
lieyed that a dark fate hangs over the
man who is bold enough to dig for its
treasure-Jennse Dosts B..rtoss, " tie A.-
| qustG (Ga.) Chronicle.